Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
This got a reaction out of him, and his eyes went cold.
“I trust you with her. And I was proven right today,” I whispered fiercely. “You saved my baby.”
He closed his eyes.
“And if I already didn’t love you like crazy, and you hadn’t already asked me to marry you, I might very well have just declared my undying love and forced you to create babies with me.”
He huffed out a laugh.
“So, what’s wrong?” I whispered.
He squeezed me tighter.
“I had something to eat that didn’t agree with my stomach and have spent the last twenty minutes in the bathroom,” he grinned.
“Are you for real?” I asked skeptically.
He nodded.
I threw my head back and laughed.
“You’re such a freakin’ shithead.”
Chapter 26
I don’t have a step daughter. I have a daughter that was born before I met her.
-Bowe’s words to Angie on the day of their wedding
Angie
“This is beautiful,” I whispered, looking at the memorial for all those who lost their lives the day of the tornado. “They did a wonderful job at it, too.”
But then a thought occurred to me, and I winced.
“I’m not really sure how I feel about the fact that they made a freakin’ tornado to put all their names on, though,” I mumbled, staring up at the massive metal tornado that was made of spiraling steel and copper.
Bowe’s mother grabbed my hand, and we looked at the huge structure together.
Bowe’s father was on my other side, his hand gently running down Elise’s back as he held her tightly to his large chest.
His parents had become a staple in my life since the day Bowe was nearly killed by Troy.
After that day, all other past hostilities were forgotten. We were now good friends, and they got along great with my family. It was also incredibly special to me the way they treated my daughter like their own grandchild.
My eyes turned back to the art in front of me.
“You ready, Sis?” I heard called from behind me.
I turned to find my brother, sister, and mother all standing at the entrance to the fire station.
It seemed fitting that we do it here. This was Bowe’s home away from home, and also the central hub of our lives. The school where we slowly fell in love, day after day, was less than a minute away. Then there was the hospital that was less than a mile away as well.
We’d discussed a lot of possibilities, and surprisingly it’d been the chief who’d recommended the station.
The wedding fell together after that.
After confirming that Bowe wouldn’t be facing any charges for shooting Troy—who lived, despite my secret wish to the contrary—we decided to move forward with the wedding.
Neither of us wanted frills or fripperies. We wanted real. We wanted it done. And we wanted to enjoy ourselves as we did it.
I’d just taken the first step towards my family, my hand drifting to Elise’s head, when a gruff, “Wait!” had me halting in my tracks.
I turned to find my father there.
He looked old.
Really old.
Much older than when I’d last seen him.
My belly turned. “Yeah?”
“I…” he hesitated, his eyes going to my mother, brother, and sister behind me. “I want to walk you down the aisle.”
I sobered instantly.
“You don’t get that privilege,” I whispered roughly. “You don’t get that.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m your father,” he said more forcefully.
That was the father I knew. Not this broken-down shell who kind of looked like my father.
“Where were you when I turned sixteen?” I asked softly. “Where were you the day I got into my first manual car and tried to learn how to drive?”
He didn’t answer.
“That’s right,” I smiled. “You weren’t there. Alec was.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand.
“Where were you when I went to prom and came home early because my prom date tried to feel me up in the parking lot an hour later?”
His face lost some of its color.
“That’s right, you weren’t there. Ariel was. She held me while I cried and we waited for mom to come home from work.”
He swallowed.
“Where were you the day Elise was born?” I whispered brokenly. “Where were you when I needed my father to hold my hand? To meet my baby? To give her all of the love that a grandfather should?”
His eyes flicked up to Marcus, who still held Elise close, and he grimaced.
“Where were you the day my ex nearly killed me?” I asked. “Everyone was at the hospital but you.”
“I didn’t know.” He held his hand up as if to touch me, and I stepped back.
“And you know why you didn’t know?” I pushed. He closed his eyes. “Because you weren’t there. You broke me, Dad. You literally stole everything I had to give and then left me to pick my pieces up. You left me broken and I stayed broken. Until the day Bowe came and helped me pick up all the pieces. He put me back together, even better than what I used to be, and he made sure that I knew that I was loved. He made sure that I knew it didn’t matter if you weren’t there. He would love me enough for you and him.”